


Pinpricks

by wafflelate



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chuunin Exam Arc, Gen, Missing Scene, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 02:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18327242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/pseuds/wafflelate
Summary: The Uchiha used to be known for their shuriken and wire tricks.





	Pinpricks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GriffinHeart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GriffinHeart/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Dreaming of Sunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/53648) by Silver Queen. 



Five days before the chūnin exams, Shikako pressed for more training, and Kakashi asked, "If I _were_ going to teach you, what would you want to learn?" 

Naruto immediately asked for more jutsu, and was rightfully ignored; Kakashi had already pretty much shot down anything offensive _or_ defensive. 

But there were other things, surely. Shikako would think of something, and given the choice between _no_ training and _any_ training, only a moron wouldn't pick the option that meant getting more skilled in _something_ , so Sasuke kept quiet and let her think. 

Carefully, having clearly rifled through everything they already knew and everything they might need during the exam, Shikako said, "Hiding... and escape." 

There was a definite pause. Naruto asked why she'd want to run away — "We'll just kick ass!" he added — but Shikako shook her head at him. 

"We don't know the kind of opponents we're going to be facing, or how strong they are or anything. We already have some good attack and defence skills, but if we get totally out classed then…" She shrugged. 

Kakashi called this "reasonable", so their fate was decided. Sasuke didn't actually think they had that much to worry about, but... it wouldn't hurt to _know_. 

Besides, real escape and evasion tactics weren't _necessarily_ cowardly, and learning how to do it better had nothing to do with Itachi's words. They'd covered logical and necessary retreats in the Academy multiple times, and they'd already been outclassed on a mission. 

Days later, when Kakashi had let them go for the day and Naruto had gone off to meet up with those kids again — "I _promised_ Konohamaru, 'cause we got interrupted last time," he'd said — Shikako lingered in the training field. 

Sasuke assumed she wants to train more, maybe a one-on-one spar, but she didn't say anything. She just hesitated, paused for a long moment to study him like he was a thought experiment she hadn't seen the point of yet, weighing whether or not to voice her thoughts. 

She did that often, holding back, although less now than she had in the Academy. 

Sasuke loitered casually like he hadn't previously been thinking of going to the training grounds by the Naka river to train alone. Shikako was always thinking, frequently came to conclusions using information Sasuke hadn't even noticed, and had never wasted his time. He could afford to give her time to work out how to phrase whatever she wanted to say. 

At least it probably wouldn't be to announce she'd talked herself out of the exam. Sasuke was pretty sure that whoever had been assigned to test her resolve had annoyed her into firming it up, because not only had they thought they could imitate Shikamaru well enough to fool her, they'd also seemed to think that _talking_ would change her mind. 

At least he and Naruto had gotten to _fight_. 

"In our spar this morning, you caught Naruto's clones with a shurikenjutsu trick I haven't seen before," Shikako said at last, which was not the sort of thing Sasuke would usually think merited long consideration before voicing. 

"When I trapped them against the tree," Sasuke guessed, although that wasn't the only way he'd caught Naruto and his clones out with shuriken that morning. 

Shikako nodded. "It's not one of the techniques we learned in the Academy." 

"No, it's not," Sasuke said shortly. 

"Ah." Shikako glanced down, a flash of guilt over her face. "Nevermind. Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow." 

He'd learned all of his wire tricks from older relatives. Mostly Itachi — a thought he was happy to swerve neatly around — but also occasionally from others. His mother, and Shisui, and a handful of others had all at one point stopped to correct the way he held the shuriken, to show him how to wind wire up so it would unspool easily later without getting tangled in the meantime, to make sure he properly cleaned the small nicks that inevitably resulted from being new at handling weapons like shuriken and wire. 

Sasuke could still remember with perfect detail the day his mother had sat him down on one of the many, _many_ evenings when it had been just them in the house because his father had gone back to work and Itachi was on a mission. _Before you can handle real ninja wire_ , his mother had said, pulling out a needle and sterilizing it, _you have to learn to protect your fingers._

Before Shikako could leave, Sasuke stopped her with a hasty, "No, wait—" and struggled with himself with a moment longer. 

It hurt to think about his mother so directly, and in some ways it hurt even more to think of the old men and aunties who'd stopped just long enough to offer a little advice and then be on their way, people from his clan whose faces he remembered but whose names he'd forgotten. People he hadn't been honoring. People he hadn't yet avenged. 

Maybe it was like the needle and the ninja wire, though. A small hurt now, in a controlled environment, with someone he knows he can trust... Anyway, if he didn't teach _anyone_ there were plenty of tricks that might die out with him, and he had to start somewhere with someone. 

"I'll show you," Sasuke said. "But it might be easier with Naruto to practice on." 

Shikako was obviously surprised — shocked, even — but she tucked it away quickly. Lips quirking, she says, "His clones, you mean." 

" _Maybe_." Sasuke shrugged. "Tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow," Shikako ageed. 


End file.
